agapē · love

What it means

agapē (ἀγάπη) is a Greek word of the Bible that means “love”.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. Love that gives itself, seeking the other's good, like God's.
2. Meals the believers shared.

From Abbott-Smith (1922) · Thayer (1889)

Word study

Love. Abbott-Smith: affection or benevolence; in the plural, a love feast. It is the noun of the verb ἀγαπάω, “to love” (G25).

• God's love Romans 5:8Romans 8:391 John 4:8
• Love among the disciples John 13:35John 15:13
• What love is and does 1 Corinthians 13:41 Corinthians 13:13
• Love as fruit of the Spirit and fulfillment of the law Galatians 5:22Romans 13:10
• The common meals of the believers Jude 1:12

How we translate it

Always “love” (116 times). This edition's glossary sets ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω = “love / love”, with no deviations, so that the link between noun and verb is seen. In Jude 1:12 the word names a meal and is translated “love feasts”.

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Matthew×1
• Luke×1
• John×7
• Romans×9
• 1 Corinthians×14
• 2 Corinthians×9
• Galatians×3
• Ephesians×10
• Philippians×4
• Colossians×5
• 1 Thessalonians×5
• 2 Thessalonians×3
• 1 Timothy×5
• 2 Timothy×4
• Titus×1
• Philemon×3
• Hebrews×2
• 1 Peter×3
• 2 Peter×1
• 1 John×18
• 2 John×2
• 3 John×1
• Jude×3
• Revelation×2

• Matthew 24:12

  And because lawlessness will have increased, the love of many will grow cold.

• Luke 11:42

  But woe to you Pharisees, because you tithe mint and rue and every garden herb, and you pass over justice and the love of God; but these you ought to have done, and not neglected those.

• John 5:42

  but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.

• John 13:35

  By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

• John 15:9

  As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; remain in my love.

• John 15:10

  If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

• John 15:13

  No one has greater love than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

• John 17:26

  And I made known to them your name, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

• Romans 5:5

  And hope does not put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

• Romans 5:8

  But God shows his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, the Messiah died for us.

• Romans 8:35

  Who will separate us from the love of the Messiah? Affliction, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

• Romans 8:39

  nor height nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in the Messiah Jesus our Lord.

• Romans 12:9

  Love must be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.

• Romans 13:10

  Love works no evil to the neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

• Romans 14:15

  For if because of food your brother is grieved, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not by your food destroy that one for whom the Messiah died.

• Romans 15:30

  Now I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus the Messiah and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers for me to God,

• 1 Corinthians 4:21

  What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?

• 1 Corinthians 8:1

  Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

• 1 Corinthians 13:1

  If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love, I have become a resounding bronze gong or a clanging cymbal.

• 1 Corinthians 13:2

  And if I have prophecy and know all the mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

• 1 Corinthians 13:3

  And if I give away as food all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I will be burned, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

• 1 Corinthians 13:4

  Love is patient, is kind; love does not envy; love does not brag, is not puffed up;

• 1 Corinthians 13:8

  Love never fails; but whether prophecies, they will be done away with; whether tongues, they will cease; whether knowledge, it will be done away with.

• 1 Corinthians 13:13

  But now remain faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

• 1 Corinthians 14:1

  Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

• 1 Corinthians 16:14

  Let all you do be done in love.

• 1 Corinthians 16:24

  My love is with all of you in the Messiah Jesus.

• 2 Corinthians 2:4

  For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you through many tears, not so that you would be grieved but so that you would know the love that I have especially for you.

• 2 Corinthians 2:8

  Therefore I urge you to confirm your love for him.

• 2 Corinthians 5:14

  For the love of the Messiah compels us, because we have judged this: that one died for all; therefore all died;

• 2 Corinthians 6:6

  in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love,

• 2 Corinthians 8:7

  But just as you abound in everything, in faith and in word and in knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love from us in you, see that you abound in this grace also.

• 2 Corinthians 8:8

  I am not speaking as a command, but through the earnestness of others testing also the genuineness of your love.

• 2 Corinthians 8:24

  So show to them the proof of your love and of our boasting about you in the presence of the assemblies.

• 2 Corinthians 13:11

  Finally, brothers, rejoice, be restored, be comforted, think the same thing, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.

• 2 Corinthians 13:13

  The grace of the Lord Jesus the Messiah and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

• Galatians 5:6

  For in the Messiah Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is worth anything, but faith working through love.

• Galatians 5:13

  For you were called to freedom, brothers; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve as slaves to one another.

• Galatians 5:22

  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

• Ephesians 1:4

  just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world for us to be holy and without blemish before him in love,

And 76 more times.